#I feel so bad for y'all. not to be all 'we live in a society' lol

[n7viper]

I feel so weird when people on this site are nice to me because I tend to feel like I'm not worthy of it if I'm simply existing. Like, no one should be nice to me if I'm not talented - if I can't write fic or draw or something. And it's like, the dumbest brain thing? Why on earth would that be the case? I don't feel that way about people, so why would they feel that way about me? And if they do feel that way, why would I want to be around them? Like what the fuck? Brain, please.

[shawoluvs]

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[worldseer]

Unpopular JJK opinion.

If I die in flames for this, I may as well die standing. Fanon Toji is just wrong. Like- that's not him.

Walk with me-

First and foremost to remind y'all:

Toji was abused for much of his life growing up, and likely never recovered from that

Mamaguro is the first and only woman he loved, the one who changed him and made him better. His habit afterwards and likely before was to just go from rich woman to rich woman to get money. It's unsaid if he had relationships with them, but it's more likely he just did jobs for them in between assignments.

He has a gambling addiction, likely because it gave him a sense of choice and control over things in his life. He wanted to feel like he could win at something, if not at being loved and revered by the Zenins. He is not addicted to money itself, or frugal about things.

While not THE BEST father, he only wanted to have Megumi given to the Zenin Clan because he believed he would be treated better and thrive there. Living in luxury and adored for your cursed technique is better than living with a non-sorcerer who struggles to keep money. Hell Megumi is NAMED Megumi because he's a blessing.

Now that that is out of the way, here is the unpopular opinion part. TOJI IS NOT THE LOVER YOU ALL WRITE HIM TO BE! HE'S NOT SOME KINKY DADDY WHO WILL DEGRADE AND BULLY YOU OR STEAL YOUR MONEY. And now I will explain why- 1. By example of Mamaguro, Toji notably softened and let go of bad habits. Yes, including his assassin job and gambling (so no worries about him stealing money). If in fanfic we're writing that he loves you, then yeah, he's gonna be a sarcastic sweetheart. Probably teases you a lot, but still cares and makes effort to show it.

2. As a man who worked a job as a literal assassin, I highly doubt he would want to ever be rough in intimate settings. He wants to keep the violent sides of himself as FAR AS POSSIBLE away from those he loves. So no rough kinky stuff, sorry. He's not gonna consistently degrade you or leave rough marks and bruises from grabbing and tossing you around in bed. He wants you safe, and not to see the man he was before.

3. As a man who was abused, he will likely be polarizing at times. Sometimes he avoids touch, and other times he's all over you asking for attention. He will want comfort, care, and gentle touches. Like the biggest lap dog you've ever seen. Please just compliment him, kiss him and hold him, he needs the reassurance. Or give him his space, and let him be but don't forget to offer something to cheer him up (like meat and offal).

4. He can be VERY bitter, but not overly angry. We know he still has a deep grudge against the Zenin clan and jujutsu society as a whole. It wouldn't be uncommon to see him possibly seething and stewing in silence, or hold more grudges. That being said, they likely wouldn't be held against you (if he loves you). He's cool and level-headed, and rarely lets emotion get the better of him (save for combat).

Thanks for coming to my TED talk, I care too much about characters.

[citizensun]

Queerness and the House of Usher (spoilers!)

See I just added these Thoughts to the tags in @quecksilvereyes 's post but now I have Feelings too

TFotHoU (or HoU, as I will refer to it here), as expected from a Mike Flannagan show, has a bunch of Queer Rep™ to talk about. HoU is, also, about remarkably evil people - amoral capitalists who'll step over anyone if it means they'll get something from it. And look! Some of them are queer! Kinky too!

That's bad queer representation... right?

The show isn't that clear when stablishing sexualities, but we see that at least three of the Usher kids - Napoleon, Camille and Victorine - have same sex SOs/assistants with curious job descriptions. Prospero's taste for orgies probably implies queerness too, but honestly I don't remember if he gets it going with any guys in the story. I honestly have no idea about Tamerlane's voyerism thingie and Frederick is the only one with a "traditional family" going on.

Unrelated, but: Leo is definitely cheating on his bf Julius. Completely dismissing about his worries for him too. And for his cat. That's objectively evil, clearly. Vic literally killed her fiancée Alessandra, though she didn't stuff her under the floorboard, which is an L when compared to Poe's original. Cam doesn't believe in true love. Perry blackmailed his sister in law. Mean. He's also got a surprisingly high kill count for the family's disappointment, but since unlike Roderick he only killed rich people, we stan. I don't belong in Kinky spaces so I haven't got a big take on Tammie, only that - well, she's completely dismissing of her husband and sees him as a prop, just like the sex worker she hires.

Huh.

See, the nature of a story called "the fall of X family" is that X family is going to be the main character. The title kinda implies that they're falling for a reason, ergo, they're despicable fucking people. And they're queer! They're very queer. Many flavors of gay. They're the main characters, and they're monsters, and they're gay.

No, that's not bad rep.

Queerness as a movement, a community and a theory is very focused on scaping a cisheteronormative society's binaries (ie man/woman, husband/wife, public/private) and creating living conditions to those who fall outside of these categories - mlms and wlws, the trans, the nbs, the aros and aces... we are all queer, strange and estranged from this weird and limited worldview. And so we create a community for ourselves. It's very focused on care and anti-stablishment. Since a cisheteronormative society tends to be very white, rich and western, it's also focuses on anti-racism, anti-capitalism, anti-imperialism. Y'all know that, this is Tumblr and we love leftist Discourse.

I also know many, many gay people irl who are not like that at all. Libertarians, anarcho-capitalists, terfs, completely apolitical people and the like. Sexuality at it's core is personal, not political, so there are gay people out there who are perfectly comfortable with their sexuality on an individual level but do not see the point of getting involved in the broader context. They're queer, but are they...?

Well—

Not to mention there's lots of asshole gays out there! Don't you have a shitty ex? Have you never been almost run over by a drunken butch who blew cigar smoke into your face? I have! Life experiences are just like that. Maybe you should touch more grass. You'll probably find a lucky gift from your neighbour's dog, who is an astrology-obsessed bisexual and also really hot but stopped making out with you at a party once she found out you're a pisces (the neighbour, not the dog).

(Granted, none of this is as bad as implanting an experimental heart contraption into the fiancée you just killed because she dared to have ethical principles and then being so consumed with grief you stab yourself in front you'd your dad but you know how it goes. We're not the 1%.)

My point is, queer people are people. We are complex. We fuck up, and sometimes there's still times to fix things and sometimes... there isn't. We're consumed by jealousy and regret and sometimes we're so locked into our own head we stop believing the rest of the world is real too. Just like any other people, because unfortunately, queerness isn't a sign of morality.

And even if queerness does mean community, kindness and acceptance, tell me... Where the hell would the Usher kids get those from? The people around them are not really peers – they're ass-istants, blowjob-giving apartments, orgy mates, heart surgery providers, hired fitness moneybags, perfect housewives. Even if the partners are all shown to care for the Ushers, there's still a distance, a power gap, that makes the relationships fundamentally wrong.

And the partners? Arguably they're the good queer rep in the show, but look – even when Julius and Alessandra are shown to be good people (or at least people with an ethical boundary), they're not the good gays, they're simply the good SO's to a family of psychos. Exactly like Bill and Morrie, who afawk are straight people.

Which leads us to HoU's parameter of morality - Auguste Dupin. He refuses to drink the Amontillado, symbol of all the Usher opulence over the years. He got screwed over by the Usher twins and by the Raven herself, but he refused to cave in (except for the informant part, admittedly). He's not a good gay guy; he is gay and he is a good man.

The fundamental difference between our show's main tragic yaoi couple isn't that Auggie is a happily out gay man (and therefore is good) while Roderick is a sad divorced hetero (and therefore is bad). Auggie is the richer man because he is a good man; he has a spouse and children and grandchildren he loves with all his heart. He has a family and a community and he has found a sort of happiness no money can buy. Roderick owns the world – but what does he really have? What do his children even have? How could they ever build communities for themselves if they were never in one? Their father made them compete for his love. He never nurtured their bonds, he just showered them with money and excess until it was too much for them to handle. Juno herself pointed out - they were never a family. The House of Usher was only that. A house. It is empty and soulless.

What is queerness without a community? How could the people who represent the relentless corporate normativity and cutthroat capitalism ever be good queer rep? How can they even be queer?

Hear me out: on the most individual, simple level, being queer is still about not fitting in. These kids are bastards. They are are PoC and women in a predominantly male and white dominated space. They're on top of the world, but they're still outsiders to their own House. How could they not be queer?

And yes, I know this discussion takes a different turn when it comes to representation in media, but it's not like Flannagan fell into a Hays Code-era flamboyant villain trope. Queerness is just there. Just like Victorine and August are both black people in (arguably) the opposite ends of the morality spectrum, there are queer characters of many kinds here. The story just happens to be about the fucked up ones.

HoU is a poignant critique of capitalism and a surprisingly funny adaptation of Poe. We'll judge it by that. It happens to be queer – more things should be.

[anendoandfriendo]

WE NEED MORE POSTS TALKING ABOUT BEING SYSIAN AND PLURILLEAN AS LEGITIMATE ORIENTATION TERMS OUTSIDE OF BEING ASPEC.

That doesn’t make y'all invalid if a system is sysian or plurillean and that DOES make them aspec.

But not acknowledging this as a separate orientation reeks of sysmedicalism to a lot of us (as in, us, Rusanya), we see a lot of things that do this that aren't intentionally sysmedicalist but are like Just There as a direct result of plurmisic oppression (see: our vents about how roles are used, how people assume endogenics cannot have CDDs and how that implies to the world we're magically immune to trauma! regardless of your actual intentions, and similar vents).

Critical analysis skills are in fact at an all-time low and that includes being sociologically-minded, we finally figured out the words for it, thank fuck. Being able to treat a thing as legitimate as well as justified while also understanding some of the nastier aspects of the history of that thing does not suddenly mean you're endorsing the nastier thing lmao, that's like saying because you're using roman columns you're like, wdk, entirely and fully devoted a dead empire and everything it has ever said and done and condone every single tiny thing it did in the name of its wars and atrocities etc etc etc.

You get what we mean?????

But because (from our observations) that skill is just so blatantly not there for so many people everything is read in bad faith and it's assumed our intent is to attack when our intent is to, like, point out something we percieve is an actual problem. Like. Constantly. We feel like we cannot talk about things we percieve as issues (or at least, if not issues, maybe just things that are unacknowledged) pretty much ever lest we get disembowled by the online community. Jeez.

Saying it one more time: we could be wrong here, but our observations have indicated that a lot of people do not have adequate skills to identify the actual repercussions of living in a society. Not just the things that are told to you, but also what is NOT said, what is simply assumed, and what the meanings of words are to the normative power versus what YOU are saying.

And in order to like, discuss actual issues. And. Not rip people apart. That's...do people understand that is a necessary skill to have so you don't fall to propaganda, for starters?

We feel like this explains a lot of things (not in their entirety but as a common thread maybe?):

Antishippers

Sysmedicalists

Transmedicalists

Any -medicalist to be honest

People who fell down the alt-right pipeline in some way unintentionally (so, pretty much all of the above but like, can be its own thing too so worth mentioning)

And like, probably way more, but. Like. We know we're rehashing an ages-old discussion with ourselves especially when we say "propaganda exploits that type of ignorance and unwillingness to analyze things," and so, when we say "words MEAN THINGS" what we generally are saying, so, when you're deconstructing them, you HAVE to understand how those words are used when a normative power applies them to a marginalized one.

-------

That's why we also fucking fixate on system roles so much we think, they're the most direct example that we can easily apply that is relevant to us in a way that makes them easy for us to deconstruct. "Role" to us has a very specific connotation and in relation to the normative power, a "role" implies a point of purpose. The way singlets call their friends a "protector" implies a personality trait as in "oh my friend is such a protector, you know?" but saying "my headmates role is a protector" implies a point of purpose, something that as far as we are aware, is a concept introduced by singlets and then forced onto our communities as plurals and systems.

We will never tell people to stop using words the way they personally like, but, for us, the way we can see this being fixed is...just saying "my headmate is a protector" or "she's such a caregiver haha" because it no longer implies a point of purpose.

And the point of that analysis is more about "is it even useful to imply a point of purpose" because, as much as we all hate it, we DO live in a society. It's not exclusionism to ask yourself WHY you use a label, and the pathways that could have led you to that and what the alternatives could have been or could be.

A point of purpose is the language of dehumanization when applied to systems and plurals. So, let's make it so even respectability politics is no longer respectable. Nothing would make a singlet more uncomfortable than forcing them to admit we are people and to wrangle their own language against them.

Do you understand what Rusanya is trying to say when Rusanya says all of this? 😖

[allthislove]

Thinking about the Namor discourse, I'm reminded of the Killmonger discourse from back when the first movie came out. Almost everyone agreed that he was right, but that his methods were extreme, and that Nakia had already suggested the same things without the violence. Killmonger's stance was... surprisingly just like Namor's. Basically burn the world, take it over (although Namor seems to have little differentiation between poor, oppressed people of the surface and the oppressors of the surface. At least that's how it seems.)

But there was also this huge rise in fans of Killmonger. He's a cool, confident character, played by a handsome actor, who was fun and cool to watch. He was definitely killed off too soon, though. Marvel had that problem of killing their villains back then, when comics heroes usually encounter their villains many times.

Now the main difference between Killmonger and Namor is that Namor isn't a villain. Killmonger comes from a straight forward villain character in the comics. Namor is an antihero in the comics. He has a long-standing feud with T'Challa and Wakanda, and they clash often for reasons similar to this movie. But Namor isn't supposed to be hated as a villain. He's coming from a completely unique perspective than everyone on the surface. Comparing Tenoch Huerta's Namor to the Namor in the comics, they're very similar in that their main goal is the safety and protection of their underwater society. Sometimes, that aligns Namor with the surface heroes. Often, he clashes with them, either because of his own extreme views (burn the world) or because they're getting up to something that puts Atlantis in harm's way (Talokan in the MCU).

So, when I'm seeing a lot of like... takedowns of people who like Namor, and who are attracted to Tenoch, and comments like "Anything for a sexy face" and "y'all wouldn't do this for a Black man" it feels very much... to me... like unfamiliarity with the character. Namor is a superhero, not a villain. We're not supposed to see him like Loki or Thanos. That's why they've been billing him as "the first Mexican SUPERHERO" in the press tour. He is an antagonist for Wakanda a lot of the time, but that's because Marvel comics are actually quite good at nuances. A lot of characters aren't strict hero/villain archetypes in Marvel comics. Look at Magneto and Professor X, as an example. You're gonna tell me Professor X is a moral good superhero and Magneto is a moral bad supervillain? Especially in the current comics where all Mutants live in Krakoa together and have a society protected from the rest of the world. You're gonna tell me Iron Man is a strictly good superhero? Like, nuance is how the comics work. That's what Coogler is actually really good at bringing to his MCU projects and it's why he's the perfect director to even handle a character like Namor.

Coogler knows how to bring the nuance. It's why everyone loved Killmonger, too, even if we didn't agree with him. (Though some of y'all did.) Nuance shows us why Killmonger wants to do what he's doing.

As far as "wouldn't do this for a Black man" takes... isn't that disingenuous when talking to fans of the Black Panther franchise? It's not like the franchise was small or didn't do well. It was one of the most successful movies of the Infinity Saga, up there with Infinity War and Endgame. Most people in these tags HAVE gone up for a Black man. T'Challa was not lacking in love. Neither was Killmonger. Or even M'Baku. How many oneshots I read about M'Baku taking care of his "vegetarian children" because of that one off, throwaway line "Just kidding. We are vegetarians." (Loved the callback to it in this movie with him eating a carrot while talking to the council!) People liking Tenoch Huerta and thinking his version of Namor is attractive has nothing to do with whether or not people find the Black men attractive. But for what it's worth, THERE'S ONLY ONE MAIN BLACK MAN IN THIS MOVIE and that's M'Baku. Unless you expect a bunch of teen and 20-something fans to go up over the elders on the council. T'Challa has passed, W'Kabi is in jail and never shown, Killmonger does show up for a cameo but that's not a main role. All we get is M'Baku. And people are going up for him, because people love M'Baku. This is a movie about a whole country of badass Black women. The only male characters of consequence are M'Baku, Namor, and Ross.

Namor is just a shiny new character and again, not a villain AND provides representation to an entirely different group of people. People are allowed to be excited to see an Indigenous character in a Marvel movie. It doesn't mean they don't love the Black characters in the movie.

As far as shipping, there's really only two choices and that's Shuri/Riri and Shuri/Namor. It's surprising that y'all are upset about Shuri/Namor, as that ship was obvious. You can dislike a ship without pretending everyone who likes it made it up based on nothing. Media literacy is understanding what a story is trying to do, and the Namor and Shuri scenes before the attack on Wakanda were trying to make you see them as a potential romance. I saw one take saying that they might possibly be switching Namor's obsession with Sue Storm into an obsession with Shuri (which is ehhhhhh and I kinda hope not, but would work with the storyline they're building).

With Riri, you get an easy ship kinda in the same grain as ScienceBros, and they are really good friends in the comics, so that ship is a pretty surefire one going forward.

I don't really like Shuri and M'Baku, but I could see it happening more than any of them in canon. I only don't like it because he reads very "older brother" with her and it would feel like an extreme left turn for them to date. But I could see the movies trying that pairing on some like... "good for Wakanda" stuff.

(Then there's Namor/M'Baku which is really funny, and I like your minds 🤣 Based on the "fish man" stuff alone.)

Anyway I'm getting off track, but basically, I think there's a lot of extreme behavior going on in the tags and I think it really boils down to this being your first introduction to Namor, because there's no reason to be angry with people for liking him. You're gonna have to get used to him, too, because he's a Problem, tm, and I fully expect him to insert himself into so many conflicts and give the Avengers grief, too. And I hope we get a main universe (I refuse to call the MCU 616) Illuminati with him and Strange and them, too.

[checkoutmybookshelf]

Oh You NEVER Introduce Yourself to Fae...

Miss Euphemia Reeves begins her fairy tale by making a cardinal mistake: she offers her full name to Juniper Jubilee, the Lord Blackthorn. And then Lord Blackthorn promptly appoints himself Effie's fairy godfather and is so damn enthusiastic and desperate to help that he becomes the single biggest obstacle to Effie fulfilling her fairy bargain. Let's talk Ten Thousand Stitches.

There are two major things I love about this book. First, I love that it does not frame anger as an inherently negative thing that needs to be gotten rid of or overcome; in point of fact, anger is what saves the day in this fairy tale. That actually gives Effie a real Sam Vimes vibe, truth be told, but we'll come back to that. Second, I actually loved how much of the book I spent yelling "HE LOVES YOU, OPEN YOUR EYES AND SEE IT" at Effie. Our girl is here for class solidarity and equitable treatment of servants, but wow can she not see true love when it's standing in front of her with puppy dog eyes.

Effie's two main plotlines are full on coming for the family she works for because they are abusing and exploiting their servants, and trying to get Benedict to fall in love with her. One of these goes significantly better than the other, because Effie turns out to be a magician whose magic works through embroidery. And this is where I want to really dig into how anger is handled in this novel.

As someone who was femme socialized in the 90s and early 00s, I definitely got the "anger and noise are not feminine, don't do that" and "anger is an inherently bad emotion." (To clarify: I did not get this from my parents, they were great. I got this from the REST of society.) Now as a grown-ass adult woman with some serious social justice and disability justice axes to grind, I have exactly zero time for moralizing about emotions. They exist, its on us to deal. And Effie's anger is characterized in terms like "bright" and "sharp" and "shining," which is a really lovely change from the deep black cesspool characterization that we usually see.

Atwater understands that anger can be motivating, can be the part of you that KNOWS you have more value than you are being treated with, and that cares deeply for you and the people around you. And Effie can imbue her embroidery with anger that motivates people to keep going, to change things for the better. This is anger that inspires. It's a complex, nuanced, adult living in a capitalist hellscape exploration of anger and its place. And y'all...I am here for it. I love how this is handled in the book.

If I'm being honest, the romance was my least favorite part of this book, because Effie inspiring the servants to basically informally unionize and fight for better lives for all of them is just so, so good, and feels so topical and relevant. And also, Effie just GETS this process, especially once its pointed out to her that she can work her anger magic intentionally. She is nowhere near this good at matters of the heart.

Overall, this was a very fun read, and honestly as a regency fairy tale, I think it hits strong.

[sheshirkat]

Euphoria, unpopular opinion and long rant :

Euphoria is accurate, it's just not a show for teenagers but for people who need to come to terms with their messed up teenagehood, or for adults in general to understand it. It is romanticised but it is in fact the way we tend to see things when we're in this cycle, this situation...we think it's so pretty and we're so cool but then we realise it's ugly as fuck. Maybe sometimes the show doesn't romanticise it, but the viewers do. Maybe some shows aren't meant for everyone. I'd love to see a show like euphoria where the last episode the aesthetic veil falls down and you see just all the disgust and despair the aesthetic covered up, as the characters starts to get it.

(Thought I lowkey defend euphoria in this (mostly I don't defend it's just expressing thoughts and opinions) I still think Sam Levinson has troubles with sexualising teenagers (all of Hollywood really) and stealing other artists' style and art)

Euphoria seems unrealistic until you grasp the concept of toxicity in your own teenage self and feel the unreadable depth of your own loneliness and guilt scratching at your back. No really, euphoria (and skins) is about fucked up kids doing fucked up shit cause they have no idea what the fuck they're doing and they're egoist and wrong and bad people but YOU'RE DOOMED TO BE FUCKING BAD WHEN NO ONE TEACHES YOU HOW TO BE GOOD AND ALL THERE IS IS HURT. Everyone hates Cassie but she's just an accurate representation of a girl trying to extermine herself just to fit in to please a boy she likes cause no man ever took care of her and her mother does the best she can but it's not enough cause she suffers too and she just feels abandonned. Attention seeking is often a call for help. Y'all just hate Cassie cause she doesn't fit into your "nice quiet sad girl" fantasy.

Same for most characters actually. Yeah they "act older than they should", especially with sexuality. But this show is about the shit we do as teenagers when we're trying to be independant and we've internalised trauma and patriarchy and so many shit comes out at this time of our lives.

Idk how to express that euphoria characters are flawed and each of them is deeply wrong in so many ways and it is precisely the point, at least in my opinion. For me, it is not a show for teenagers. It is a show for adults to understand what happened to them, or to teenagers in general, and to warn or to help come to terms with what you've been through and the shitty person you used to be in high school, the shit that happens to you, the shit you've done to others, but also to yourself...Not saying everything is forgivable, Nate's a downright abusive prick, but it's also an interesting character because it questions where morals come from : he has no other model growing up than his father. To change you have to have a shock, especially when you come from a wrong place. And school don't teach you morals, ethics, how to treat people right. You may think it's logic, and so do I, but because it has always been for us. But see further, see reality TV, history, the government, toxic masculinity, forcing kids to kiss their grandparents to "be polite"...violence has mechanism, and these mechanisms are intertwined with the way we grow up. Not saying to not blame grown ass men (and women sometimes) doing awful shit, we all got our responsabilities and abuse is not justified in any way. But the intrications of violence, to me, are something to be questioned and thought about if we want to make the world a better place, cause obviously prison and laws don't do shit about this part of society. Nate's a reflection of toxic masculinity.

Would have more stuff to say but gotta sleep, rant over and good night!

[tigger8900]

New Who Rewatch: S1E1 - Rose

So, I originally intended to do this back before the 13th Doctor, but I couldn't get my shit together. Such is life. Then I thought I'd do it before the 60th Anniversary Specials, but again, did not have my shit together. But then I thought, it's never going to happen if I don't just do it, regardless of where my shit is or what it's doing. So this is happening.

I'm gonna be starting from 2005, y'all. Some of these episodes I've seen several times. Some I've only seen a couple times. And a few(more in later seasons) I've only seen once before. It'll be interesting to revisit those in particular, thinking about why I avoided them when picking out episodes to watch. I'll be ranking things as I go. Who knows, life might even allow me to get all the way through to the present! Assume that there are unmarked spoilers through the episode being discussed.

S1E1: Rose

Overall Ranking: 1/1

Series 1 Ranking: 1/1

I've never been mad at Rose. Is it my favorite? No. Do I dislike it? Again no, not even when thinking about the CGI effects. I think it's a great premiere for the reboot, but taking the episode on its own merits it's pretty solidly middle of the pack for me. I expect it to shake out somewhere in the upper middle of the rankings. Though the Ninth Doctor is incredible, Rose is not my favorite companion, so that probably factors into it as well.

Thoughts on the episode:

I really like the framing of the Doctor as being someone dangerous. I'd forgotten about that. He comes in when a big disaster happens, and we know that usually he stops it from being even worse, but from the human perspective he's the harbinger!

The Mickey vs bin CGI is not good. Oi.

Christopher Eccleston is so good in this role. As much as I tend to like the episode content that Russell T. Davies puts out, the fact that Eccleston has spoken out about his negative experiences working with RTD(among others) gives me complicated feelings about RTD being back as a showrunner.

Jackie Tyler is so unlikable at the start, even viewed through the context of her being a single mom doing her best. What she has going for her is the fact that she loves Rose very much and wants what's best for her daughter. What she has going against her is pretty much everything else. She's a great character, especially later in her arc, but I'd hate to have to be around her as she appears in this episode.

RIP Clive.

I love that, after literally five minutes of living plastic-induced mayhem, the street is full of fire. It's so ridiculous and over the top.

The chain swing is a really good character moment for Rose. She might not be set up for success by the metrics society typically uses(no A-levels, no job), but she's brave and capable. That's the part of her character that I like.

...but she treats Mickey like shit! He's not a bad boyfriend, from what we see. They're being sweet together and having fun in the opening, and he shows up to help her out repeatedly. He's also right about a lot of things, including the fact that it's kinda sus to go meet some internet stranger at his house. But she's so inattentive that she doesn't even notice when he's been replaced by an Auton. Admittedly she also doesn't notice the Doctor trying to get her attention in the same scene, so this is more of a Rose issue than a Rose & Mickey issue, but that's messed up. And then at the end, when he's having a perfectly normal reaction to what he's just gone through, she just up and lol bye!~ Mickey deserved better.

[coveredinbees]

I've been seeing some people on Twitter calling Matt Bomer a zionist, and I have thoughts. I've included a cut here, so people don't have to read my mad political rantings if they don't want to. I know people are going to get mad at me, but, well... I can't help that.

Before I start, let me just get a few points straight:

Above all else, I support Palestine. They have been subject to gross apartheid for many fucking years, and what is happening right now is not a conflict between one state and another - it is the starvation and genocide of civilian people. The state of Israel must be condemned for their actions.

I also acknowledge that we need to be careful about the language we use when discussing Israel and Palestine. Because there are antisemetic people out there who will try and piggy back on pro-Palestinian arguments, ('fellow travelers', if you will); and honestly, fuck racists. It is possible, (even necessary), to openly condemn the actions of a government, without allowing racist narratives to bleed into the conversation. But we need to check ourselves.

Yes, I agree, Hamas are a terrorist organisation and they are fucking awful.

The big question is, "Is Matt Bomer a zionist? " And the unfortunate answer is, I don't know. If it turns out he is, then y'all stand aside, and I will yeet him off the cliff myself, but so far, all I've seen him accused of is posting the Israeli flag in his Instagram stories, (undated), and I suspect he might be one of the many celebrities out there who posted their support for one side, without doing any surface-level digging beyond what he saw in the media. Maybe he isn't a zionist, you guys. It's entirely possible - nay, likely - that he is just a dumb bitch, like the rest of us.

But we do live in a cancel culture society, and we do not tend to give a lot of leeway for people to be ill-informed or make mistakes on social media. Don't get me wrong - some people should be cancelled. But what I want to encourage here is critical thinking. Don't just cancel people because of a random tweet you saw. Ask yourself, "Is this person bad, or are they misinformed?" I mean, maybe it will turn out he does support the State of Israel in their actions, in which case - fuck him. But then, maybe it will turn out that he's human and he made a mistake. The dude did just win an award for his human rights work, so I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, until someone can give me categorical proof that Matt Bomer supports genocide.

Weigh things objectively. Decide for yourself. I am not here to tell you what to think. But personally, I want more information before I start boycotting him, or harassing him on social media, as I see some people are already doing.

If you feel that passionately about Palestine, good. You should be passionate, what is happening is horrendous. But turning that passion into vitriol for dumb celebrities is not very practical. Donate to Amnesty International, join one of the many 'Pro-Palestine' marches happening globally, or write to your MP. It all seems so small, but every little thing we do helps.

And thank you for reading. I'm always up for discourse, if anyone wants to have a conversation about this.

[plasticfangtastic]

being annoying about the s4 trailer part 2

but with spoilers--

lowkey feel that the Sunhee cancer thing its for Butcher's between the spoilers and this scene

i have no doubt in my mind his cancer will gain superpowers....

i also feel like we will hear about the cheating of Becca during a conversation with him and Joe, I don't think Hughie will be the one to learn the truth if I'm a 100% honest and if he does he might actually chastisize him for it, I also can't tell if Joe its FBI/CIA or a Lawyer.

Back to Kimiko and Zoe fighting I guess that's how they tried getting Neuman to talk with the boys for a deal and it all went terribly bad for them, there's also this little tidbit of why would Homelander tried to kill Neuman and she looks for help from Stan and why would she do that? I think she will try to manipulate Homelander in the one way that almost guarantee to fuck the lives of any woman who touches him... unless that's Ryan in a school uniform in that second pic...

I literally have no idea whose blood this might be... perhaps the riot grows out of control and Homelander finally gets to laser everybody he likes for once...

alternatively... and that's just me... but what if this is the aftermath of him fighting Carnage/Venom Butcher and my boy is just so glad that him and Butcher will be able to keep fighting as equal... plsu the blood looks so much stickier than usual comapare to other homelander covered in blood scenes(... but my eyes might just be fucking with me as I'm fairly blind y'all should see how thick my glasses are)

i genuinely think he will give Compound V to Butcher bcuz I still believe Butcher wouldn't do it to himself V24 was different it was just a taste of it but Homie doing it to him... well even his own mind had him giving him feedback on the matter in the shape of Homelander

oh altho he could be getting the V from this Jitter Bean smuggling operation incase it's not for cocaine... frenchie and kimiko finds some V and give it to Butcher... altho if y'all wanted to infect society with a deadly supe virus maybe poisoning a very popular chain of coffee's beans might be an easy way to infect the population, likewe got a Jitter Bean cafe in Godolkin, maybe there's one in Vought's tower too.

[turnertable]

can I say something controversial after we just got done celebrating miles and Alex reuniting?

I think Milex is a cute ship, it is, they are an adorable pair. their chemistry is very sweet and they are like soulmates you can tell, be that platonic or not in y'alls opinions. I personally don't ship it (always been a mattlex girly myself, platonically talking). I do feel at times y'all do focus on the wrong thing with Miles and Alex. some of you lot love defending Miles and how he doesn't deserve to just be associated with Alex but please and I beg you, tell me truthfully you know Miles from his solo work and not from TLSP. there's few of us, I think Miles is great and his music is good, I saw him before AM live FFS but no I wouldn't know Miles without Alex. It's just a thing that will always exist and it's unfortunate I know but it's true. I also think documenting and cherry picking at specific moments that have literally no correlation at all to milex romantic moments and making them oddly sexual is fucking odd. like I'll give you the d, I wish you would: that's an innuendo, that's funny and you can make that sexual cuz they did. they act like an old married couple at times. the lentils joke about their bad habits for example, it's cute and domestic. it's fic material. I understand that, trust me but like sometimes they are just on coke and giggling like little boys over like bringing bread and crumpets to the studio and that's not an allegory for fucking each other (an actual real post someone made). please it's odd and fetishism of two men who are straight. I understand that being gay is still a taboo subject for some people from more oppressive countries and maybe at 14 when you found AM, milex was your first introduction to shipping culture and men being shipped together, that would be exciting to you. However the nuances of that is that it can cross a line to a degree where you aren't respecting the two real people. I was in the Dan and Phil fandom before they came out and we had an era called 2012 where Dan especially was on the defense constantly to a point where it was a taboo to us to talk about but through time, that defense became more empathetic with them coming out. we all grew up and that behaviour from when we were kids was not ok anymore and that frustration was valid. I have many straight friends who have felt that pressure to be part of the LGBT community in order to not be shamed and on the flip side, I don't even need to tell you how hard it is still for lgbtqia people to want to hide in the closet with all the problems we still as a society have to face.

what I'm trying to say is, these are straight men and it's ok for straight men to be affectionate with their friends, I know it may still be frowned upon in some cultures but we wouldn't have am without a close bond between the lads. we wouldn't have TLSP without miles and Alex being best friends. i don't think milex is wrong, plz do what you want, draw your porn art if you want, write fics upon fics but plz just think about why this makes you so happy and understand the true consequences on what you say because you could be upsetting the gay community around you by being elated that miles can kiss his friend on the cheek. let boys love each other platonically or not, it doesn't matter. If Alex or Miles came out tomorrow, I'd support them, it's just something to think about.

Plus it's ok for teenagers and younger people to see what the boys do and want that, that's valid and I hope you have fun. There's a point where you may realise that something you said was a kid that you don't agree with and that's part of growing up, I know (hence the dnp rant). I see this now as an adult and think of that as crossing a line by prying at someone's sexuality cuz that's not mine to know and I don't know that person in real life. However if you are like a long time monkeys fan in your late 20s, early 30s, please consider what you're doing and re-evaluate what this means to you because maybe it's not just Alex and Miles that make you feel this way and that's not healthy: that's a parasocial relationship you've held for so long you don't know any different.

[theasexual-jackson]

The terf pipeline that assigned female at birth trans folks are just “little girls with internalised misogyny and want to be males to escape misogyny” is bullshit! Feat. My experience as an afab transneutral person.

Hi, everyone! For those who don't know me, my name is Angel and I go by all pronouns (neos & xenos included), and welcome to this simple, but big, post.

I think everyone knows the radfems, also known as terfs. You know, these women whose feminism is just transphobia, racism, ableism, generalisation of womanhood and plain exclusion of anyone who isn't a cishet, white, middle to high class women. Maybe, a little bit of queer women, but only in their criteria.

And I think everyone here knows on their infantilization of trans men and assigned female at birth trans people in general. They always say: “Oh, poor little girl, consumed by outside and internalised misogyny, so she tries to be male so she can try to live happily!! =((”

And I say, bullshit, bullshit, FUCKING BULLSHIT! Talking from experience, even!

You see, even though I was raised and socialized as a girl... I didn't experience that much of misogyny. Hell, probably not at all.

“Omg, that's impossible, how would you do that?” Rapunzel. That's the secret, I lived and live to this day like Rapunzel.

I don't go out to stores that often, I only have one way on my daily basis: Home → School → Home. That's it, that's all it. This is how my life goes since forever.

And when I go out somewhere, I'm 9/10 times around one of my parents or my brother. So, my chances of getting catcalled, s/a'd or something are quite low.

I am a hyper protected kid, that's why I am a pussy. And while my mom was mean and a bigot in general in many points of my adolescence, she had enough sense to not be misogynistic throughout my childhood (things started to go wrong in my life, between me and her, when I started to show signs of non-cisgenderness and gender non conformity, to summarize).

And that gave me time to discover my identity without women hating structure of patriarchal society on the way (gender imposition on max.). In fact, I was reluctant to accept that I identified in a masculine way sometimes, because cis femininity (and probably some internalised transphobia) was too impregnated on my brain, at that point. So when I started to feel side effects of an misogynist society, my identity was already constructed, I already knew who I was, so misogyny couldn't really play a role in it.

To give y'all an idea, the first time I've ever been a victim of misogyny was in 2023, when I was 15, close to turning 16 years old, and I was getting romantically harassed by a boy (he changed schools, so I won't see that nigga's face ever again, THANK YOU LORD 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽) and that same muthafucka went on to say, in the middle of class, that women bad and they be the reason why we fail (based off that fucking Adam and Eve story, btw), directed at everyone who was read as a girl in that class, aka all the girls of my class and me. And, since I'm closeted, I had no choice but only be disgusted at that remark of his.

But, key word, disgusted. Not guilty, not deeply affected like any normal woman would; But disgusted. Because misogyny is disgusting to everyone who's not a misogynistic.

See where I'm getting into? My first contacts with what is misogyny in practice came too late to be experienced from a girl's perspective. Maybe from a fem presenting perspective, since I'm closeted, but I only can view it from a transgender perspective, now.

My transgender identity cannot be affected deeply by misogyny now, because misogyny came too late.

And that's not a case only for me, but for many other trans minors. Many trans kids understand that they diverge from the gender they were assigned at birth, even before getting a grasp of misogyny and/or gender related violence, even when they don't even know the existence of the word trans.

So, in conclusion, transness is not a result of internalised misogyny, but being a nasty girl who dismiss other girls just to get male appreciation is (and not only that, tho, patriarchy has many faces other than just sexual violence).

Bye!!! =3

[spookyserenades]

So so so much to say about this chapter and yet so little organization in my brain but we're gonna try anyways:

First of all Namjoon being just so protective and sweet?! Could get down on one knee for this man I swear🥰🥰 Also him being so irritated over her not looking after herself properly OMG?! HIM NUZZLING HER NECK AND SITTING HER DOWN ON HIS LAP ?!?! LOVE HIM I SWEAR😭

Jimin and Hoseok being so serious and concerned?! Jimin lightly scolding her cause he's worried but also being so soft and understanding about it?! Could die😫 Hoseok taking the time to have a serious conversation about it and then MARK her?! UGHHHH😫😫

YOONGI AND JIN BEING SO SO SO CONCERNED AND PROTECTIVE?! FALLING APART AND YEARNING FOR HER SAFETY AND RETURN?! IM GOING FERAL!!!😫😫😫 Yoongi's soft moment when he's opening up about his mom?!🥹🥹🥹 Them teaming up to comfort her and keep her safe while they sleep?! MY HEART😭😭😭 also Jin, I see you, com'ere *daddy*😏😏😏

JUNGKOOK NIPPLE PIERCINGS AND BACK TAT?!?!😩😩😩 ALSO HE MIGHT NOT SHOW IT BUT HIS FIRST PRIORITY WHEN THEY WERE UNDER ATTACK WAS TO GET HER THE FUCK OUT HE CARES SO MUCH😭😭😭

Tae and I are no longer on speaking terms.

The ghosts are getting fucking scary, I dunno how the trio deals with it cause I'd be shaking and crying in a corner in fetal position😭😭😭

IM SO HAPPY FOR ALL THE HYBRIDS, THEY'RE FINALLY BEING ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN SOCIETY AND STARTING TO BE TREATED LIKE HUMAN BEINGS TOO😭😭 #HybridRights✊

LOVED LOVED LOVED THIS CHAPTER SO MUCH, I FEEL LIKE EVERYONE GOT SO MUCH ATTENTION AND IT WAS SO BEAUTIFULLY COMPOSED❤️❤️❤️❤️

-🍒

HELLOOO CHERRY!

UGH Joonie bug 😭 I just am so excited for his protective wolfish instincts to get stronger and stronger with each update (and as he falls in love 😉) AH like he's done so much growing over the course of the series, going from more wild and distrustful to really attempting to get used to more human emotions. He's really starting to watch over Y/N and it's not only super sweet but also VERY sexy... Ooof like when he nuzzled into her neck yeah I'd fold. And when he tenderly helped her with her nosebleed :( down bad horrifically.

Jimin scolding her was very much needed IMO. I don't think Y/N would have shown the others the audio otherwise, which would have caused a total fucking shitstorm if the other hybrids found out she kept that from them. He was nice about it though, which I think was sweet of him-- he was the best choice to convince stubborn Y/N. Hoseok toooooo he was probably not only worried about her but also his bestie Jinnie, who would literally become a shell of a person if something happened to Y/N. AH but when he marked her... such a stark difference from the first time, when he was so rough. EEE nice to see a serious side of Hoseok!

!!!!!!! YOONJIN! They literally were fighting for their LIVES when they listened to that audio. Call it hybrid devotion! I'd say they both consider Y/N to be their mate, so hearing something like that totally sent them into panic mode. 🥺 But that part where they both hold her to sleep the night after the investigation is everything to me. Both set their pride aside for her, just to keep her feeling safe 😭

I've been sitting on that part of Yoongi's backstory for a while, his history with his mom. He's one of the only (besides ONE other!) That came from a natural birth, not from a lab. We'll see how this makes Yoongi different from the others as time goes on! And I can't wait to write his birthday scene, it'll definitely be vvvvv intimate 💕

Don'tttt get me started on soft dom Jin. I literally had to take like five water breaks writing that scene until I was like fuck it and cracked open a vodka seltzer LMAO 🥵

As for Tae.... we're all very upset with him rn, even if we can't blame him for trying to move on or distract himself 😭

Hehehehehhe I love to spook y'all with the paranormal scenes!! I too would be shitting bricks if that happened to me but also I wanna investigate hauntings sooo bad so I'd probably stick it out!

I'M HAPPY FOR THEM TOOOOOO LIKE OO I CAN SEE JIMIN TAKING SOME UNI CLASSES AND HOSEOK COACHING HIS LIL TRACK TEAM 🥺 Hopefully more laws will be passed, like banning of hybrid sport hunting 😡

AHH THANK YOU SO SO MUCH I'M SO HAPPY YOU LOVED THIS CHAPTER!!! I'm glad you think everyone had a little moment, too, we love balance ❤️ Love u cherry!!!

[astrologicaldiary]

This is Aquarius's time to shine!

I'm not a pro but just an observer, I have been looking at some celebrities who are Aquarius Sun, and they are really having a good career!

Megan's song Hiss is #1 on the chart. She signed a deal with Warner Music, and she gets to control and manage her masters and songs. And that's an excellent deal because as someone who is a creator is so important to have control of her art because we live in a capitalist society filled with greedy ass corporations that abuse their power and take advantage of people. Megan has this experience with her ex-label. Whewwww, I'm glad she's left! They really wanted her to be their slave but treated her like shit behind the scene.

I think ever since Pluto moved in Aquarius, it; 's given the Aquarius peeps so much power in their career or whatever sector they are a part of or working in.

First of all, I love this man. But I'm shook that he has two kids! But anyway, he has been doing well publicly. He won a globe and an Emmy, and he did this beautiful and ....sexy campaign with Calvin Klein.

I had to show it off !!! Yes, he's definitely an Aquarius but his career has been blowing up.

This beautiful gal works with my man Jeremy on the Bear (watch the show, it's good). I took a look at her birth chart, and she's actually a Libra sun but she's an Aquarius moon! And she has been an IT girl and gathering all these awards and recognition! I hope she getting paid FAIRLY and gaining more opportunities because Hollywood is shitting on black women a lot! But yeah, she's killing it!

If you are an Aquarius rising or have any prominent placements such as the sun and moon, I think this Pluto in your sign is going to boost you up to a whole other level!

For me, I have a Uranus in Aquarius in my tenth house, so I'm not sure if I'll get a sip of the power juice, but I'm already feeling the energy to shift my career path make realistic plans, and follow through! Because I'll be my own enemy! Now if have other Aquarius placements, I think that you are already feeling the fire!

My sibling actually is an Aquarius stellium and has a sun. My sibling who travel with his friends out of the country, he told me that he has been seeing the same ghost TWICE! Now he can't sleep!

So some of y'all could see some supernatural shit since Pluto is rule in Scorpio, and pluto involve of taboo and occult stuffs. So it makes sense, but I haven't had it. And I hope not because I'll pass out! But even with Megan with her album theme is so on point around this pluto transit. Her music had symbols about transformation, shedding, snakes and talking her shit !

So if you are an Aquarius sun, rising, or moon, this is time for you to get your shit together! Go towards your dreams and do some weird things you wanted to do so bad but were scared of what people would say! Fuck them! THIS IS YOUR TIME SO DON'T BLOW IT !!! But... this is a powerful transit so be careful and humble yourself. So be really honest and true with yourself since Pluto is about accountability and transformation.

[charyou-tree]

I know how everyone here feels about Apollo's Dodgeball of Prophecy, now that I've gotten enough distance from the pandemic, I need y'all to know about the band that predicted it.

This is a recent studio album by the Dutch symphonic-metal band Delain.

The album is called Apocalypse and Chill, and it released February 7, 2020. This of course means it was composed/written/produced/recorded months or years before 2020.

Its about how society handles (doesn't handle) some unspecified catastrophe, and then how the survivors pick up the pieces.

Here's a breakdown of the tracklist:

One Second: The before times, when all we cared about was falling in love and having fun

We Had Everything: We had no idea how good we had it

Chemical Redemption: This won't be so bad, right? We can (probably?) fix this.

Burning Bridges: Cracks in society start to show, widened by the stress of the impending disaster, friends and family turn on each other

Vengeance: "GIVE ME ONE GOOD REASON TO SPARE YOU. GIVE ME ONE HINT THAT YOU'RE STILL THE PERSON I ONCE KNEW OR YOU'RE FUCKING DEAD."

To Live is to Die: pretty self explanatory, death comes for us all, might as well accept it

Let's Dance: Not "lets party in the club", but "let's fucking dance", whispered to yourself under your breath, just before charging into an unwinnable battle. Its an admission of "the only way out is through". Ok apocalypse, Let's Dance.

Creatures: We're all changed, hiding, sneaking, trying to survive in this more dangerous world.

Ghost House Heart: Mourning for those we lost

Masters of Destiny: Choosing to exist on purpose makes you in control of your own destiny, no matter what life throws at you.

Legions of the Lost: Hey, how come only a handful of powerful/rich people are "recovered" from this? What about the rest of us? How can we fix this if you refuse to take care of the people of this world? <---- IRL, You Are Here in the recovery process

The Greatest Escape: The After Times, turns out things won't be bad forever

Combustion: Instrumental, kickass guitar solo, always relevant.